“Where ar……am……l?” Laide asked. Pain swept through his body from his left leg where he was injured. He gnashed his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut. Darkness. Silence. He opened his eyes. ” Thank God, he is alive. Closing your eyes won’t help you….” A voice said. The ambulance jolted and the vehicle made a turn towards the dirt road on the left. The surgical equipments clanked in a tray beside the stretcher Laide was on and some bottles fell off the tray to the ground. The ambulance was smelling of medicines and dried blood. ” like l said, closing your eyes won’t help you. he said he won’t pay for any further treatments if you don’t mention the name of the other guy” The man in the white lab coat said. His coat was stained with bloody finger prints and different stains, they were the colour of sienna. 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘨𝘶𝘺? 𝘜𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘥𝘦 ? 𝘑𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘱𝘩?  Segun ?, Laide thought . His heart was beating faster like the drum of a possessed drummer in a new yam festival. He gnashed his teeth. He felt his left leg wasn’t part of him because they torment him now with electrifying pain. ” You don’t know the level of crime  you guys committed” he shook his head, Laude stared at him in pain. Laide’s left hand was fastened with a cord to the edge of the stretcher. ” Anyway , you guys saved my life and my profession. I thought the old man was dead , it was a miracle. ” he grinned. His eyes were glassy. “we thought he was dead, but he was in coma. A very bad mistake all my fifty eight years in this profession. How did he survive down there?.That is why one needs to be sure he is not burying his relative alive. One needs to wait, this type of thing  happened in my village, years ago….You might be wondering where he is, we took him to the hospital where he is receiving treatments now” He wiped his eyes with his gloved hand. Nothing made sense to Laide. 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘢? 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘯? 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘢? ” You see, he was suffering for long at the hospital before he went into coma. His son told us that we should alert him if he dies. Everyone had gave up on him. The old man before his….” The doctor walked closer to the stretcher and pushed a box closer to the stretcher, he sat on it and stared at Laide. ” don’t try to move your leg.” the doctor told Laide and sniffed. ” Mr Bayo, the son of Mr Jerome, told us his father instructed that he should be buried an hour after his death. It appears the old man didn’t want his body to be subjected to chemical tortures at the morgue. So we did as he had told his son. ” he stood up and walked to the blue curtain behind the drivers seat. He drew the curtain and peered in between. He held both halves of the curtain with his hands. ” Take us to the hospital. Don’t drive to the police  station. Let’s keep him alive” ” Oga , nobi wetin Mr Bayo and the Oga police tell us, he talk say make we carry dem con poliz station” ” Drive to the hospital first, let’s give him blood, he was bleeding when we took him.” ” Okay oo, but how dem fit do that kind thin. Anyway if he no be dem, the old man for die throwaway” ” Adamu that is not my business. drive to the hospital. Take the expressway.” He closed the curtain and returned to the box and sat on it. ” The black guy, what is his name?” 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘨𝘶𝘺? 𝘜𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘥𝘦? ” Is he dead?” Laide asked. ” Oh , he took the old man’s place” Laide closed his eyes and was quiet. The doctor stood up and walked to the blue curtains. Before drawing it, he turned and faced Laide. ” why were you guys so desperate… they would get the other guys soon. Francis would lead the police, he saw every member of your gang” he smiled and Laide frowned , He swallowed the phlegm in his mouth and coughed. ” l don’t know why. just for gold”the doctor said and joined the driver at the front seat. Laide’s face had lost all expression, but the past  like a desolate threshold could be visited again……… The air was cold and damp.Looking at the sky, an hungry toddler would have confused the yellow orb of the sky for an egg York. it was dull, round and yellow behind the clouds around it. Darkness was approaching and the twilight would fade away for night in some minutes. The Potter’s field below had another body buried within her bowels, the leader of the gravediggers —francis— gazed at the off— white gravestones and vaults scattered on the field. Some of the vaults had been there for years , looking at them you could guess who was buried within them by their size. Towards his right was a small vault  that had a banquet of withered flowers on it. The epitaph read: “He was a lovely boy”. Francis shook his head . 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘦𝘯 , he thought. Towards his left was the grave he dug with his men, few minutes ago. The corpse of a man was buried six feet below.  The graveyard caretaker —Segun— stood by the dwarf gate behind him. Frances wiped his gloved hands on his work Jeans. ” Francis, l want to close the gate, the Local government authority don’t talk say make l dey lock the gates  after seven o’clock don nak ”  segun said, with his hands on the dwarf iron gate. ” This skull miners and juju men everywhere, make them no come put me for trouble” . ” na truth you talk, dem dey every where,